6 avril 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

CAE to implement temporary layoffs, will begin producing ventilators

CAE announced that it has taken a series of flexible measures to protect its financial position in response to the COVID-19 crisis and mitigate the impact on its employees. The measures include temporarily suspending its common share dividend and share repurchase plan, as well as temporarily laying off 2,600 of its 10,500 employees and placing another 900 employees on a reduced work week. CAE also announced that, in an effort to help save lives, it is developing an easy-to-manufacture ventilator which will provide life support to patients in intensive care.

“CAE continues to support its customers as the training services we provide are considered essential around the world. Our civil aviation operations are most affected by the unprecedented disruption of the global air transportation system. At the same time, our defence and security operations are less impacted because CAE provides mission critical services worldwide,” said Marc Parent, CAE's president and CEO. “We entered this crisis from a position of strength with a leading market position, a balanced business with recurring revenue streams, and a solid financial position. Taking decisive yet flexible action will help to protect our people and operations over the short-term and gives us the necessary agility to resume long-term growth when global air travel returns. Our employees have always been at the core of CAE's success, we regret the hardship these temporary measures will cause those affected, especially during these difficult times, and we are grateful to all our employees for their contribution and dedication.”

To mitigate the number of temporary layoffs, CAE significantly reduced capital expenditures and R&D investments. The company also announced cost-containment measures, including salary freezes and salary reductions for staff not affected by reduced work weeks (50 per cent for the CEO and executive team, 30 per cent for vice-presidents, 20 per cent for directors and managers, and 10 per cent for group leaders and employees).

CAE is working to access government emergency relief measures and wage subsidy programs in its main operating jurisdictions and will assess their impact on its mitigation plans. As details of government assistance programs around the world are finalized, CAE will do everything it can to recall as many employees as possible.

Dividend and share repurchase plan (NCIB) suspended

CAE's board of directors has approved the suspension of dividend payments to common shareholders until further notice and will review this position on a quarterly basis. Core to its capital allocation priorities, CAE remains committed to paying dividends over the long-term that are commensurate with the long-term growth of its business and will seek to resume dividend payments as soon as it is appropriate.
CAE's board of directors has also approved the temporary suspension of all share repurchases under its normal course issuer bid program.

CAE provides essential services critical to maintaining customers' operations

In civil aviation, training is highly regulated, and for pilots to remain active and to continue to hold their certifications, they must train regularly — usually every six to nine months. While training activities related to new pilot training have decreased substantially, many airlines and business jet operators have continued to conduct recurrent training to maintain the certification of their existing pilots. Two-thirds of CAE's more than 50 civil training centres worldwide continue to be operational, however training utilization is lower than usual as a result of restrictions from border closures and lockdowns that have forced temporary closures and disruptions to operations.

In defence and security, as underscored by governments worldwide, CAE's work is considered essential, and its employees are deployed worldwide to actively support training and readiness requirements. Over 90 per cent of CAE's operational sites are still delivering services to support defence forces who must always be prepared and ready in the interest of national security.

Playing a role in saving lives in the fight against COVID-19

To help in the fight against COVID-19, CAE Healthcare engineers and scientists have designed in 11 days a simple, maintainable, easy-to-manufacture ventilator prototype to provide life support to patients in intensive care. CAE is currently sourcing components in order to begin production of this ventilator as soon as it is approved by Health Canada.

“CAE has employees around the world, and we are all proud of the impact we can have by putting our expertise to work to create a ventilator that can help save lives in the fight against COVID-19,” said Parent. “Once this prototype is approved by public health authorities, we are looking at manufacturing thousands of units in our Montreal plant and in other sites over the next few months.”

CAE is also providing complimentary training seminars on how to prepare healthcare workers in the fight against COVID-19. The CAE team is launching simulation-based training solutions, both web and hardware based, to train personnel in the safe practice of ventilation and intubation, which is key to saving lives. This is even more critical right now when ventilation and intubation is being done by healthcare professionals who are not trained for these complex procedures.

https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/cae-to-implement-temporary-layoffs-amid-covid-19-pandemic

Sur le même sujet

15 janvier 2020 | Local, Aérospatial

Unlike Finland, Canada nixes cold-weather tests, fly-off among competing fighter jets
Finland, which is considering the same aircraft as Canada, for its new jet fleet, is requiring each competing aerospace company to provide two aircraft to test at low temperatures and in real world operating conditions. DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN Updated: January 15, 2020 Canada won't conduct a fly-off between fighter jets competing to become the country's new warplane nor conduct testing to see how such aircraft perform under cold weather conditions. The decision not to proceed with such tests under Canada's $19-billion future fighter procurement program stands in contrast to Finland, which is considering the same aircraft as Canada, for its new jet fleet. Each competing aerospace company is required to provide Finland with two aircraft to test at low temperatures and be evaluated in real world operating conditions. Public Services and Procurement Canada has confirmed that Canada will not do any fly-offs among competing jet or tests for cold-weather operations like Finland has underway. “We do not have plans for an exercise of this nature,” stated department spokeswoman Stéfanie Hamel. Finland and Canada are considering the Boeing Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin F-35 and Saab Gripen. The Finnish Air Force is also testing the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon, both of which pulled out of the Canadian competition because of worries the process was rigged to favour the F-35. Finland hopes to buy 64 aircraft. Canada will purchase 88 aircraft. Canadian aerospace industry representatives say the competing companies as well as allied air forces could provide Canada with results from tests they have conducted on the competing aircraft. Finland could have taken the same route but its procurement staff want to ensure the country is getting value for money since the project will cost around $14 billion. Finnish defence ministry program manager Lauri Puranen outlined in a blog post the extensive tests that will be conducted and the reasons for not relying on tests conducted by others. “The Finnish operating environment and operating methods may differ from other users' weather and lighting conditions,” Puranen stated. “Winter conditions affect the operation of the multi-function fighter and especially the performance of electro-optical systems, but possibly other active and passive systems as well.” The fighter jet candidates will be tested on the ground, in the air, and during takeoff and landing, he added. The testing of the competing aircraft is currently underway. Another series of tests involving the jets taking part in flight operations and a simulated lengthy war game will be conducted by the Finnish Air Force later this year. Finland expects to select a winner for the aircraft program in 2021. The planes, which will replace Finland's current fleet of F-18s, are expected in 2025. The Canadian government expects bids for its fighter jet program to be submitted by the end of March. A winning bidder is to be determined by early 2022. The first aircraft would be delivered to the Royal Canadian Air Force by 2025. Information about how Canada intends to evaluate the jets is limited. But Public Services and Procurement Canada has noted that technical merit will make up the bulk of the assessment at 60 per cent. Cost and economic benefits companies can provide to Canada will each be worth 20 per cent. Concerns have been raised by Lockheed Martin's rivals that the competition has been designed to favour the F-35. This newspaper reported last year the requirements for the new jets put emphasis on strategic attack and striking at ground targets during foreign missions. That criteria is seen to benefit the F-35. In addition, the federal government changed criteria on how it would assess industrial benefits after the U.S. government threatened to pull the F-35 from the competition. The Conservative government had previously selected the F-35 as the air force's new jet but backed away from that plan after concerns about the technology and growing cost. During the 2015 election campaign, Justin Trudeau vowed that his government would not purchase the F-35. But at the same time, Trudeau stated his government would hold an open competition for the fighter purchase. The Liberal government backed away from its promise to freeze out the F-35 and the aircraft is now seen as a front-runner in the competition as it has many supporters in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Many of Canada's allies plan to operate the plane. Canada is a partner in the F-35 program and has contributed funding for the aircraft's development. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/unlike-finland-canada-nixes-cold-weather-tests-fly-off-among-competing-fighter-jets
5 août 2021 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

IDEAS -- L’appel à propositions du Banc d’essai Énergie Verte est maintenant ouvert!
Un concours est actuellement ouvert pour IDeaS jusqu'au 7 septembre. IDeaS permet aux entreprises de développer des produits innovants afin de répondre aux défis de nos forces canadiennes. Les différents programmes permettent le développement et même la commercialisation d'innovations. Le texte en français suit. The Green Heat: Low Carbon Energy Generation for Heating Existing Buildings Test Drive call for proposals is open! Lowering our carbon footprint is a significant matter for governments world-wide. The Government of Canada is committed to reducing its absolute Scope 1 and Scope 2 Green House Gas (GHG) emissions by at least 90% below 2005 levels by 2050. Currently, 60 percent of the energy requirements in DND facilities is for space heating, of which 90 per cent is generated from the burning of fossil fuels. Given that DND has more than 10,000 buildings in its portfolio, the need to address the GHG emissions of these buildings is essential. The challenge is in finding ways to convert these buildings to low carbon heating without requiring a major building retrofit, which would be cost prohibitive. DND and CAF are looking to Test Drive creative energy generation solutions to pair up with existing heating systems to help lower our carbon footprint. Specifically, the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) are seeking a large-scale, low carbon energy generation/transfer system for heating existing buildings by integrating with their current hydronic heat distribution systems. A test building has been selected in Kingston, Ontario, for a Design-Build team to design and install an innovative system, in order to assess the effectiveness and the costs of these integrated technologies, with the aim of reducing the energy demand and carbon footprint of DND/CAFs infrastructure portfolio. The potential funding for the Design-Build contract component of the project has been established in the range of $5,500,000. See the full Call for Proposals that was issued July 27, 2021, and explore how you can support environmental progress. The deadline for application is September 7, 2021. Interested in knowing more about this test drive? Please reach out to the Test Drive & Sandbox Team: IDEaSSandboxes-EnvironnementsprotegesIDEeS@forces.gc.ca The IDEaS Team L'appel à propositions du Banc d'essai Énergie Verte : Production d'énergie à faibles émissions de carbone pour le chauffage de b'timents existants est ouvert! Réduire notre empreinte carbone est une question importante pour les gouvernements du monde entier. Le gouvernement du Canada s'est engagé à réduire ses émissions absolues de gaz à effet de serre (GES) de portée 1 et de portée 2 d'au moins 90 % par rapport aux niveaux de 2005 d'ici 2050. À l'heure actuelle, 60 % des besoins énergétiques des installations du MDN sont destinés au chauffage des locaux , dont 90 pour cent sont générés par la combustion de combustibles fossiles. Étant donné que le MDN compte plus de 10 000 b'timents dans son portefeuille, le besoin de s'attaquer aux émissions de GES de ces b'timents est essentiel. Le défi consiste à trouver des moyens de convertir ces b'timents au chauffage à faible émission de carbone sans nécessiter une rénovation majeure du b'timent, ce qui serait prohibitif. Le ministère de la Défense nationale et les Forces armées canadiennes (MDN/FAC) cherchent à tester des solutions créatives de production d'énergie à jumeler avec les systèmes de chauffage existants pour aider à réduire notre empreinte carbone. Plus précisément, le MDN et les FAC recherchent un système de production/transfert d'énergie à grande échelle et à faible émission de carbone pour chauffer les b'timents existants en s'intégrant à leurs systèmes de distribution de chauffage hydronique actuels. Un b'timent d'essai a été sélectionné à Kingston, en Ontario, afin qu'une équipe de conception-construction conçoive et installe un système novateur, afin d'évaluer l'efficacité et les coûts de ces technologies intégrées, dans le but de réduire la demande d'énergie et l'empreinte carbone du portefeuille d'infrastructures du MDN et des FAC. Le financement possible pour le volet conception-construction du projet a été établi à environ 5 500 000 $. Examinez la demande de propositions complète qui fut publiée le 27 juillet 2021, et explorez comment vous pourriez contribuer au progrès environnemental. La date d'échéance pour appliquer est le 7 septembre 2021. Ça vous intéresse d'en savoir plus sur ce banc d'essai? Communiquez avec l'équipe: IDEaSSandboxes-EnvironnementsprotegesIDEeS@forces.gc.ca L'équipe IDEeS
14 juillet 2024 | Local, Terrestre

Blair defends the slow pace of Canada's defence spending, says some allies have it easier | CBC News
Reaching NATO's defence spending benchmark isn't about showing up at your local military trade show with a credit card and buying "a whole bunch of stuff," Defence Minister Bill Blair said Friday following the conclusion of the alliance's Washington summit.

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